TNAG-1734-FCO40-2447-Minutes-and-Hansards-of-the-Legislative-Council-of-Hong-Kong-1988 — Page 331

HONG KONG LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL-11 May 1988

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formulate a suitable youth policy. This is an important task directly related to the future of Hong Kong.

Sir, with these remarks, I support the motion.

MR. HUI: Sir, I join my colleagues in discussing an urgent issue which Hong Kong has taken for granted for so long. It is my hope that this debate may galvanise the Government in the mapping out a youth policy which is a panacea for our long standing youth problem.

Growing up in an affluent society, the youths of Hong Kong today face great social conflicts and challenges that make them materialistic, opportunistic, superficial and aimless, lacking the progress of the older generation. Our young people come under pressures from study, examinations and work, largely neglecting the moral, civic and sex education, and demonstrating inadequate language skills. Addicted to the electronic media, few of our youngsters today take part in voluntary work, wanting in political and social awareness. We have, therefore, a profile of Hong Kong's youth being an individual of unbalanced growth, instead of an all-round, mature, responsible citizen. True, Hong Kong has been spared the burden of modern hippies roaming the streets of western countries, or student rebels confronting the police with petition placards; but the fact that we have in our midst a lost generation who appear perfectly normal to us is far more threatening.

What have we done with our unique cultural heritage, apart from frowning with indignation or pointing an accusing finger at youth today? Have parents tried to help their teenage children to cope with the frustrations of adolescence, or have they simply left the task entirely to the schools? Have our education programmes considered the creative needs of young people, instead of em- phasising academic achievements? Are our manpower policies optimising young persons' potentials through career guidance, or are they only policies of labour supply and demand?

The answers to these questions reveal a significant fact. While our social policies include young people among services targets, none of them are geared towards meeting the ever-changing needs and aspirations of youth. At a time when one quarter of our population are undergoing a critical period in their lives, searching for working skills, moral values and self dignity and identity, our society has paid little attention to their problems that have been misinter- preted in terms of juvenile delinquency, drugs and school drop-outs affecting only the minority. In this regard, the principles listed in the Report on Youth Policy have succeeded to articulate the long felt needs of our youth, putting into proper perspective the rationale behind the youth policy for Hong Kong which was first proposed in 1972. Here, Sir, I wish to stress that as Hong Kong goes through the transitional period before 1997, the overriding principle of our youth policy ought to be to equip youth who are the pedestal of Hong Kong society to become our future leaders. Sardonically, Sir, our discussion on